The Mineral Point School Board held a special meeting Monday to take action on two agenda items.
Video of this meeting can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpEekk7ejnc
The District recommended approval of Tami Krueger-Chappell to a 1.0 FTE paraprofessional position. Chappell would replace Heidi Nelson who resigned this summer and will commence with a salary rate of $14.19 per hour.
Board member Jeff Basting questioned the compensation rate stating Nelson had been with the district nine years and was not making as much.
Superintendent Luke Francois responded there was a low pool of applicants for the position and the salary was negotiated as the first offer was rejected. He also stated Chappell has a high level of work experience that warrants this salary and it is comparable to other new hires.
Francois added this position is to work one on one with a student that has profound medical needs. The student will be returning to school in October.
There was a motion on the floor to approve the position with Lisa Hay and Basting voting yes and Larry Dolphin and Glenn Kinch voting no. Julie Stephenson, Matt Lindsey, and Larry Steffes were absent.
A tied vote is a failed vote, which means if the vote were to stand, no paraprofessional support would be implemented for this student upon return to school.
Francois stressed to the board if this position is not filled, it is putting the District at a serious risk as this student has significant and fragile medical needs.
Kinch said he would need the dollar amount of the applicant’s benefit material before voting yes. He stated he has been requesting this information for every new hire for
over a year with no response.
Francois asked Kinch and Dolphin, if he would be able to obtain the requested information in time for publication, would they approve the hire?
Both said yes.
Francois stated he would obtain the hourly rate, plus benefits, for a total compensation amount.
The motion to hire Chappell then passed unanimously.
Tuesday morning, Francois provided the following information for release:
The para-educator position in a normal school year finds 180 paid days and 6 paid holidays. The total salary for this position this year would be $19,795.05. However, roughly 30 days will have already transpired prior to commencement of work thereby reducing the allocation for this year by one-sixth or $16,495.87.
Non-exempt staff without individual contracts receive the following benefits:
If taking the Alternative Benefit Plan (ABP) and single Dental Vision (DV) the total benefit is $28,486.
If taking single health insurance and single dental vision the total benefit is the same, $28,486.
If taking the ABP and family DV the total benefit is $29,498.70.
If taking family health insurance and family DV the benefit is $38,083.
The second item on the agenda involved the Energy Efficiency Project on a non-recurring basis that was approved by the Board in 2013 and is set to end in 2022.
At the board meeting earlier this month, the board voted, as part of the approved 2015-16 budget, to exceed the revenue limit for the purpose of the continued financing of this project.
Francois stated things have changed at the state level whereby the resolution no longer needs to be approved annually, but instead, the Board could take action on the remaining years of the borrowed note all in one vote.
This would be a convenient housekeeping item whereby it would make it easier to budget and save time if the resolution was approved in one vote.
Francois stated the District is saving roughly $30,000 in energy savings annually due to the project. These savings are then being used to pay off the loan and the loan is scheduled to be paid off sooner than 2022 if these energy savings can continue to be used for this purpose.
In addition, Francois stated the District is being aided from the state on the dollars spent on this project.
Kinch made a motion to keep the resolution before the board annually and not approve the resolution with this single vote through 2022.
This motion produced yes votes from Basting and Kinch and no votes from Dolphin and Hay. Again, the vote tied so the vote failed and things will continue as is with the resolution being brought before the board annually to exceed the revenue limit for the Energy Efficiency Project.
The next regular scheduled meeting of the Board will take place Monday, October 12 at 6:30 pm.